A report released December 13 at the Statewide Youth Homelessness conference in Chicago estimates there were nearly 25,000 homeless youth age 12 to 21 in Illinois in 2004, up nearly 4,000 from 1985, when the previous such study was conducted.

The report—Unaccompanied Homeless Youth in Illinois: 2005—is the result of a study conducted by SRL and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless with funding from the Illinois Department of Human Services. The study gathered information from 215 service providers, and face-to-face interviews were conducted with 169 homeless youth at shelters and agencies.

Homeless Girls Often Mothers

Over 55% of the unaccompanied homeless females interviewed had one or more children of their own.